Last week on May 10, Jody Parker, safety manager at Jones-Onslow EMC saved the life of his mother-in-law Kathy Parker at the Smithfield’s restaurant on Yopp Road. On Tuesday, Kathy recalled the events of the evening.

Kathy, owner of Kathy Parker Real Estate in Sneads Ferry, had a meeting at 8:30 p.m. that evening. She and her daughter Jennifer and son-in-law Jody stopped by Smithfield’s about 7 p.m. for dinner before the meeting. They sat in a booth just beyond the front counter. Kathy was eating barbecued chicken, baked beans and French fries when “all of a sudden, I had no air,” she said.

“I knew I was choked but didn’t know how to tell them,” Kathy said. “I just stood up and pointed to my chest and my daughter. Jody knew what was wrong and pushed my daughter out of the booth. Another lady from across the restaurant came running. Jody got behind me and did the Heimlich maneuver. No air. He did it a second and third time. No air. On the fourth time, he used more force and the chicken popped out. I was so thankful to God. Jody is such a wonderful son-in-law.”

The frightening experience has given Kathy a new appreciation for God’s care, for life and for her son-in-law and his knowledge of his job.

“God put him there in the right place,” Kathy said of Jody. “I would have been as dead as a door nail if he hadn’t jumped up out of that chair and done the Heimlich maneuver.

“In his work at Jones-Onslow, he goes around and teaches safety courses. We always talk about how good Jody is at his job. I know what they are talking about now.”

Kathy has been through some tough times. She said that she has had several mini strokes leaving her body frail. Her husband died on Nov. 9 of last year. Her family has been so good to her, checking on her daily. Although she knows that her husband is in heaven waiting for her, while she was choking, Kathy said that she was praying.

“I was scared and didn’t know what to do,” she said. “I was praying ‘Lord, I have three great grandchildren. They are babies. Please let me see them grow up.’^”

When she was married, daughter Jennifer did not have to change her name. Jennifer and Jody Parker (no relation) attended Dixon High School together. They married after high school.

“Jody is such a good Christian boy; his daddy was a pastor,” Kathy said. “They (Jennifer and Jody) go to church together and pray together.”

Jody and Jennifer have had their own tough times, Kathy recalled. About 14 years ago, Jody was hurt on the job. He was in a cherry picker when the come-along that was holding the wires broke causing two wires to touch together. Jody was burned from his neck to his ankles. He was hospitalized at Chapel Hill for an extended period and was left with a cross scar underneath his arm where the electricity entered his body. As soon as he was well enough, Jody was back in the trucks riding with the men, Kathy said.

Page 2 of 2 - “He is the most amazing young man you will ever meet,” she said.

Jennifer, a certified appraiser, works with Kathy at the firm.

Kathy also has a son Billy Parker, five grandchildren Sarah, Nicole, Jasmine, Jordan and Zachary; and three great grandchildren Paris, 8; Teresa, 1; and Aurora.

Kathy was able to go on to her 8:30 meeting that evening with no residual effects except a swollen throat.

“I am thanking God for the Heimlich maneuver,” Kathy said. “He made me know that you don’t talk and eat.”

That’s so embarrassing

Last Monday I had a, well, a Monday. I was eating lunch with Joe and my friend Judy Huff when I received a call from a prospective tenant. I left lunch and went to meet a nice military family from Alabama. After leaving them, I stopped in at another rental that my son Jimmy and daughter-in-law Desiree have been repairing. It was there, apparently, that I ripped the seat of my pants from stem to stern.

I returned to work at The Daily News after lunch walking all over the building to different departments as I went about my work. I was headed to the newsroom when JB Thomas, who sits in front of me, said, “Carolyn, did you know that your pants are torn?” I reached behind me and felt about a 12-inch vertical tear. Thank goodness I had clean underwear and had the foresight to coordinate the color. The black underwear was not so visible and not torn but the white pocket of the pants was just shining. Lord have mercy, I could have crawled under my desk.

I placed the file I was holding over my posterior, thanked JB for telling me, and went to the car to get my gym shorts. There was no time to go home and change so I attended my 3 p.m. meeting in my gym shorts. That was more embarrassing than the time I wore two different colored shoes to work.